The medals were
given to her grandfather.
He was Staff Sergeant
William John Hewett.

He was in the
Royal Army Service Corps
during the First World War.

Sandra talks about the medals

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Sandra talks about the medals

"These are medals from the
First World War
they belonged to my grandfather,
who was in the First World War.

I found them only recently
because my uncle lived in
the same house in Addiscombe and
sadly he died recently
and there was a fire
at the house and somebody
brought out this large box
which I had never seen before.

We opened the box and there were
the medals, along with quite a
lot of papers sort of telling
the story of my grandfather
during the war and the
Second World War.

It shows that
he was in the
royal army service corps which
is servicing the troops in battle
he was a staff sergeant,
and he received 6 medals all together.

The sad thing is sort of
not knowing really what happened
and what he did,
We never talked about it we never
asked him about it
and I am amazed that
we never really knew
this material was here
and never had a chance
to have a conversation with
either my grandfather or my uncle."

First World War Medals

Pip Squeak and Wilfred are the
common or nick names given to the three First World War campaign medals.

The 1914-1915 Star,
the British War Medal and
the Victory medal.
The set of three medals when
worn together are worn
left to right, with the
1914-15 Star on the left,
British War Medal in the centre
and Victory Medal on the right.

When the medals were awarded
it coincided with the publishing
of a comic book strip in the
Daily Mirror newspaper,

featuring Pip the dog,
Squeak the Penguin and
Wilfred the young rabbit.

It is not clear as to why
the comic strip and the medals
became associated with one another
but the names stuck.

To Find Out More

To find out more about the effectof the First World War on Croydonyou can visit the Research Room.

The Research Room is on theLower Ground Floor, Croydon Clocktower.It is open Tuesday-Saturday 10.30-5.